Sara Zarr recently wrote about “listening to whole CDs at a time again, not as background music but as a discrete activity that involves full engagement.” She’s not the only one re-discovering the joy of the artistic whole represented by a well-crafted album of songs. In the last eight days I’ve seen Guster play in Cleveland and Bruce Springsteen totally tear up the joint in Auburn Hills. What does a small Boston band playing the HOB in Cleveland have to do with a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer lighting up an arena? Like Zarr, they’re exploring the impact of a song collection listened to attentively as a whole. Instead of laying on the floor between stereo speakers, the bands invite their audiences to experience their full albums in order in concert. Guster celebrated the 10th anniversary of their breakout album Lost and Gone Forever by playing the whole thing. Bruce, well it didn’t seem that Bruce had any real reason except that it’s a good idea. In Auburn Hills, he played Born to Run, and at other stops on the tour he’s playing other albums from his formidable catalog.

Back in the day when albums were thought about and crafted as a cohesive unit, song order and what not was carefully planned to provide thoughtful pacing and content. The best albums were collections with great songs, yes, but also a gestalt in which the collective power soared. You can think of U2’s Joshua Tree, the slowly building intro to “Where the Streets Have No Name”, the powerful whallop of “Still Haven’t Found”, the intense but subdued “With or Without You” providing a bit of a breather before the torrent of “Bullet the Blue Sky”.

It should then be no surprise then that playing an album through in concert would provide a meaningful concert experience. The other benefit is that the band is forced/gets to play tunes that may have fallen out of the live repertoire. Guster commented that some of the songs hadn’t been played since the original supporting tour. What a treat for committed fans to hear deep catalog cuts. And for concert goers who aren’t obsessed fans, it’s a chance perhaps to hear a side of the artist not usually seen.

So, Long Live the Long Play. May the power of the album not be entirely stripped away by the fragmented iTunes download and MP3 player random play.